Speed Zones for Pre-School/Day Care????

[Bdazla]

Say no to 'bush' lol

[Professor Farnsworth]

it was look right, look left, look right again

well at least that's what i do, it's the logical one, but i put another left on again at the end

[FGII-XR6]

here is an offbeat idea put some responsibility on the day care centres make it a condition of their licencing that they have adequate off street parking for picking up and dropping of their customers. lets face it they are money making businesses so they should be forced to pay to make it safe for the customers under their care, it is called duty of care. will this increase the cost? maybe but that's the price of safety. sure beats the ongoing burden placed on motorists

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by Bonn

Which state are you in????

Sobber !!

[Bonn]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

What state are you in?????
Sobber !!

Was sweating on that....

[Bonn]

We may have come full-circle, back to Driver Awareness/Ability/Training.

Once attended an 'advanced drivi ng' course in 1990 at Amaroo, and it was the ducks guts. Lots of good stuff, e.g. the instructor blows the whistle, and you are instantly up the a**e end of an imaginary, stationary truck (denoted by witches hats) on the apex of a wet bend, in this case STP corner.

****** like that can give a driver a fair bit of perspective, IMO.
Motorcyclists, often victims, have to complete courses before becoming licensed - why can't drivers??

[Streets]

Drivers should be aware of their surroundings but an enforceable speed limit is going to give everyone more time to react, including drivers that are aware and the drivers that aren't. I have no problems with lower speed limits around schools and preschools. If you travel through a 400 metre school zone at 40kph it is only going to take you an extra 12 seconds compared to travelling at 60kph.

Yes, kids should be supervised by adults and should not run across the road without looking, but when you've just bounced a six year-old off your front bumper are you going to jump out of your car and say "well he shouldn't have ran out in front of me"? Blaming the victim isn't going to bring you comfort.

[xxx000]

Originally Posted by XD 351 Ute

Our Alpha truck is a Mercedes Otago, which is fitted with airbag suspension. I drive slowly over the speedbumps etc, because even it has a rough ride over them.
We have a multitude of equipment on board, as well as out tanks of water & foam, and like everything it needs to be looked after.
Some may have less mechanical sympathy than others I suppose.

Ed

we have to drive pretty slowly over speed humps in ours to avoid damage

two tonnes of water plus gear makes it unsuitable for launching over them

[xxx000]

Originally Posted by au3xr6

here is an offbeat idea put some responsibility on the day care centres make it a condition of their licencing that they have adequate off street parking for picking up and dropping of their customers. lets face it they are money making businesses so they should be forced to pay to make it safe for the customers under their care, it is called duty of care. will this increase the cost? maybe but that's the price of safety. sure beats the ongoing burden placed on motorists

that would be even more of a nightmare as there would be cars negotiating through a carpark whilst kids are being led to and from cars by parents

plus the cost of providing a carpark would be enormous

permanent 40 km/h school zones are the go imho, no more drivers whinging about not knowing it was a school day or what time it was, just 24/7 so it becomes more likely that drivers will go slow through them

and enough of these 'just revenue raising' claims please, if that was what their purpose was then they'd be permanently monitored/enforced.

it's not that hard to slow down to 40 or less for a short distance but too many drivers are in their own little world

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by aus880

that would be even more of a nightmare as there would be cars negotiating through a carpark whilst kids are being led to and from cars by parents

plus the cost of providing a carpark would be enormous

permanent 40 km/h school zones are the go imho, no more drivers whinging about not knowing it was a school day or what time it was, just 24/7 so it becomes more likely that drivers will go slow through them

and enough of these 'just revenue raising' claims please, if that was what their purpose was then they'd be permanently monitored/enforced.

it's not that hard to slow down to 40 or less for a short distance but too many drivers are in their own little world

I don't know about where you live but all the pre schools around here have car parks.

And as for the 24/7 40kmh limit...
There is one road here in town that has 3 primary schools and 1 pre school all in a 2 km stretch of road.

So the speed limits for that area would be 50-40-60-40-60-40-60 all in 2 kms.
and you want people to do this 24hrs every day of the year ? Give me a break !!!

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by Bonn

The centre itself is on the inside of a curve, so vision is limited, and your open drivers door narrowly misses getting knocked off it's hinges, so speed's a relative thing. It's sprinting, don't worry.

how about you drive 20 metres up the road and park where it is safer?

[JGP]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

I guess because children being picked up from pre school always have an adult with them.

What about if you have another small child with you? My missus pick up our 3.5yr old from day care with our 2yr old. Not as simple as you make it out to be.

[Bonn]

Originally Posted by tweeked

how about you drive 20 metres up the road and park where it is safer?

The whole street's curved - it's a crescent. It's not an issue being the driver, you just time the opening of the door. The poost was a reply about relative motion/speed. Obviously, the kid gets out on the curbside and all's sweet.

i tend to round another local (blind) corner, featuring an old pub, at about 25kmh, 'cause there's always the chance of a dog, kid or old p*sspot teetering about to cross to the median strip - again, it's way below the posted 50, but them's the conditions. It would feel uncomfortable, any faster

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Bonn

The whole street's curved - it's a crescent. It's not an issue being the driver, you just time the opening of the door. The poost was a reply about relative motion/speed. Obviously, the kid gets out on the curbside and all's sweet.

i tend to round another local (blind) corner, featuring an old pub, at about 25kmh, 'cause there's always the chance of a dog, kid or old p*sspot teetering about to cross to the median strip - again, it's way below the posted 50, but them's the conditions. It would feel uncomfortable, any faster

And here is the crux of the problem. You want to change the whole of Australia to suit your unique situation.
This has been the origin of some of the most stupid and inconveniencing rules forced on us.

How about you go to your local council and ask them to reduce the speed limit at that one place.

Thinking with the brain instead of the heart usually produces a better result...........

[FGII-XR6]

so everyone else has to be inconvenienced so parents without the requisite skills to properly care for their children don't have to worry ( permanent 40K zones AKA Harold Scrubby). parenting is a big responsibility and part of that is care around traffic. who cares what the car park costs? no me we never used day care as we believed in the value of proper parenting, we struggled financially but until school age my ex wife stayed at home to care for our daughter.
parents coming and going in the car park should be driving appropriately and safely maybe at 10 Ks ( like in our bus depot yard) instead of imposing a restriction on everyone else and holding up traffic.
back to 40K zones, many schools around here are on major highways some with 80K limits. halving the limit at every school would cause intolerable bottlenecks all because parents can't teach their children basic safety talk about selfish. we are becoming the cottonwool society

Originally Posted by aus880

that would be even more of a nightmare as there would be cars negotiating through a carpark whilst kids are being led to and from cars by parents

plus the cost of providing a carpark would be enormous

permanent 40 km/h school zones are the go imho, no more drivers whinging about not knowing it was a school day or what time it was, just 24/7 so it becomes more likely that drivers will go slow through them

and enough of these 'just revenue raising' claims please, if that was what their purpose was then they'd be permanently monitored/enforced.

it's not that hard to slow down to 40 or less for a short distance but too many drivers are in their own little world

[Bonn]

Originally Posted by flappist

And here is the crux of the problem. You want to change the whole of Australia to suit your unique situation.
This has been the origin of some of the most stupid and inconveniencing rules forced on us.

How about you go to your local council and ask them to reduce the speed limit at that one place.

Thinking with the brain instead of the heart usually produces a better result...........

No need to get narcy, just putting it up for discussion - to get others' views.
Don't want to change anything about Australia, and agree local council is a logical avenue - HOWEVER, just happened to consider other people's daycare centres, rather than being egocentric, or too peroquial, hence discussing on forum.
The thing i'd like to change is drivers' skill/judgement levels.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by Streets

when you've just bounced a six year-old off your front bumper are you going to jump out of your car and say "well he shouldn't have ran out in front of me"? Blaming the victim isn't going to bring you comfort.

If I wasn't driving like an idiot at speeds beyond what the prevailing conditions allow, then yes, I would say that the kid shouldn't have ran out. Accidents between a pedestrian and a motorist are not always the motorist's fault, despite what some organisations would like us to believe.

Originally Posted by aus880

permanent 40 km/h school zones are the go imho, no more drivers whinging about not knowing it was a school day or what time it was, just 24/7 so it becomes more likely that drivers will go slow through them

What would be the point in imposing a 24/7 40km/h zone when there's no kids around on weekends or school holidays? Some schools are placed on major arterial roads with speed limits of 70km/h or above. If it is a wide open road with excellent visibility, there is no need for a 40km/h limit outside of the beginning and end of the school day.

I'm all for 40km/h school zones but only if the 40km/h limit is temporary.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by JGP

What about if you have another small child with you? My missus pick up our 3.5yr old from day care with our 2yr old. Not as simple as you make it out to be.

Me and/or my missus drop off our 2 and 4 year olds at preschool twice a week.
Is not hard, you do what you gotta do.
The ratio of adults to children outside a preschool would be almost 1 adult per 1 child.

Outside a primary or high school, you could have 200 kids waiting for buses with 1 teacher accompanying them.

[Bonn]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

Me and/or my missus drop off our 2 and 4 year olds at preschool twice a week.
Is not hard, you do what you gotta do.
The ratio of adults to children outside a preschool would be almost 1 adult per 1 child.

Outside a primary or high school, you could have 200 kids waiting for buses with 1 teacher accompanying them.

Good point - and probably why pre-school institutions aren't 40kmh.
After reading Flappist's post, it probably is a bit of an isolated case - i.e. potential shortcut, which sucks, and even then a good eyeballing of the perpetrators generally gets a 20k speed reduction, on the spot. Given, there's a finite population, eventually everyone will have got 'the Evil Eye'.